Color-Coded Cap and Tube Assemblies for Bioreactor Bottle Size Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
In bioreactor setups, there is a lack of a quick and reliable method to ensure that feeder lines reach the bottom of bottles of different sizes, leading to potential errors and premature experiment failures due to incompatible tubing lengths.
Innovation Solution
A system where caps and tubes are visually coded by color or indicia to match specific bottle sizes, with the tube length adjusted to ensure it reaches the interior bottom of the bottle, and the cap and tube assemblies are designed to be flexible to accommodate varying bottle heights with a tolerance to prevent tube misalignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If visual coding is added to caps and tubes to indicate bottle size compatibility, then selection accuracy and reliability improve, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color coding to caps and tubes to visually indicate bottle size compatibility. Different colors represent different bottle size ranges, enabling rapid visual identification and correct selection. This resolves the contradiction by providing reliable visual cues (improving selection accuracy) through a simple aesthetic modification rather than complex mechanical or electronic systems (avoiding increased device complexity).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces visual codes as an intermediary communication layer between the tubing assembly and the user. The color codes and indicia serve as mediators that convey bottle size compatibility information without requiring direct measurement or complex matching logic. This resolves the contradiction by enabling reliable information transfer through simple visual markers rather than complex selection mechanisms.
2Reliability
If tube length is precisely matched to specific bottle sizes, then fluid withdrawal reliability improves, but adaptability to different bottle sizes decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tubing product line into distinct size categories (e.g., 100-250ml, 250-500ml, 500ml+) with specific tube lengths optimized for each segment. Each segment is visually coded with corresponding colors and indicia. This resolves the contradiction by providing precise tube length matching for reliable fluid withdrawal within each size segment while maintaining adaptability across the full range of bottle sizes through the segmented catalog approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent varies the tube length parameter according to bottle size categories. Different tube lengths are manufactured for different bottle size ranges, with each length optimized to reach the bottom of bottles within its designated size range. This resolves the contradiction by systematically adjusting the length parameter to maintain reliability across different bottle sizes rather than using a single fixed length that would compromise either reliability or adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If multiple visual coding systems are implemented on caps and tubes, then ease of verification improves, but manufacturing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements color coding as the primary visual verification system, with different colors indicating different bottle size compatibility ranges. This single color attribute provides immediate visual verification without requiring complex markings or multiple coding dimensions. The color is integrated into the cap and tube materials during manufacturing, avoiding additional post-processing steps and keeping manufacturing complexity low while maximizing verification ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses color coding and basic indicia as sufficient visual verification rather than implementing exhaustive detailed markings. The color provides the essential verification information needed for correct selection, and additional indicia supplement rather than replace the color system. This partial approach provides adequate verification ease without the manufacturing complexity of comprehensive detailed markings on all components.
Data Source
AI summary
Assemblies of a cap and a tube fixed to the cap are provided in which at least a portion of each assembly has a visual coding of color and/or indicia for use with one of different sizes of bottles at least in accordance with a height of the bottles from a closed bottom end to an open top end for engaging the cap of the assembly. In each assembly, the cap has a tube mounted to, or through, an aperture extending through the cap to extend a selected length enabling one end of the tube to reach or extend along at least a portion of an interior surface of the bottom end of any of the bottles of the height to which the assembly is coded for use therewith. Each of the caps has another tube or port to another aperture of the cap to provide an air vent.